Beautiful Bella

We have always thought Isabella was the most beautiful thing created, but it seems that no matter where we go in Ecuador she always draws a crowd. We wish we had started counting the number of times people have asked us if they can take a picture with her. For most Ecuadorians someone with blond hair and blue eyes is a rarity and for many she is the first they have ever seen. Fortunately she loves the attention and usually isn't too bashful. Unfortunately for this picture she wouldn't do it alone, but since then jumps right in and loves being the center of attention even for just a few minutes.

Especially for Luke

Before we left the states, a friend was telling us that while explaining to his son, Luke (a friend of Sebastiao's) about where we were going and what we would be doing, his son asked if we would get to see Diego and Baby Jaguar (you know Diego, the cousin of Dora the Explorer- hes an Animal Rescuer!) Well, we were sure the Diego part wouldn't be too hard to find for Luke, but the jaguar part we were a little unsure about. But.... (Ecuador never ceases to amaze) we have found Baby Jaguar, or at least what may work. So, Luke this is for you-
While visiting a local zoo, we found 2 small jaguar-like (here they are called tigereras) baby cats. In typical Ecuadorian fashion, the only thing between us and the "dangerous" animals was a chain linked fence, and being the good mother that I am, I decided to set an amazing example and began playing with the babies through the fence. They were very sweet and from my magnificent example the following photo was born. I feel a little like those parents in Canada who put honey in their kids hands so the wild bears will eat it.... but he survived, so I guess it was all worth it for the photo!

Beauty

Todays post is mainly just about beauty. For those of you familiar with Spiders, this is a type of Orb-weaver. We had many Orb-Weavers at our house in the states and loved watching them build their webs with that special little zigzag. Isn't God amazing!

The Good, The Bad, and The Disgusting

The GOOD- Thanks to my amazing husband (whom I consider the best physician at the hospital), we have access to wonderful health care along with a vast array of medicines.

The BAD- Because of where we live and the climate, we are susceptible to MANY different things including a drug resistant Staph, numerous bacteria, large bugs, snakes, and parasites. In fact most people who live here believe that having and getting parasites is just part of life. We are supposed to take anti-parasite medicine every 6 months just to be safe. We just took our first round last month (only 2 months late) and I have to say, it wasn't the most glamorous thing I have ever taken part in..... for your sakes, lets just say I didn't realize I had any, but.......

The Disgusting- Our family - Joe, Sebastiao, Isabella and me are not the only ones who have to worry about parasites. Baron, our wonderful dog who has put up with this move - although he complains regularly- has also been a host for parasites, just a different kind.
For about the last 4 days we had noticed that the bottom of Baron's paw had a sore- or what we thought was a sore. We worked bandaging it, cleaning it, keeping him off of it as much as possible and trying to get it to stop bleeding, but nothing seemed to work. Then Tuesday night while looking at his paw, I noticed that the open wound seemed to be moving. I showed Joe, convinced he would think I was crazy, but he agreed. I started squeezing on the sore and yep, you guessed it, out popped a worm. It is a larval state of something, all we know for sure is that is was disgusting. I still can't believe I squeezed this out of my dogs foot. You will be glad to know that within 12 hours his foot was fairly well healed.

Since Tuesday night we have learned that this is a Bot-fly larvae and have also found 3 more in Baron! Making those reservations right now aren't you?

The View From Our Front Door

We get lots and lots of rain around here. About 20 feet a year, so clear cloudless days are rare. When it is clear, I am always amazed at how surrounded we are by mountains and volcanoes. Joe captured these 2 shots the other day when the only "clouds" in the sky were created by smoke from Sangay, a volcano. These pictures are literally taken from our front door... Isn't God's creation amazing? It definitely takes a lot of faith to be an atheist.

Zoo Time

We found an amazing zoo in Banos, a town about an hour away a few months ago. The best part about the zoo is that it not only engages the kids minds, it also wears them out. Whoever designed this zoo was either really crazy or really into exercise. I have never walked up and down so many stairs in one day in my life. We were all ready for a break after our wonderful day.

The Sweetest Things

Gifts from patients have to be one of the sweetest things about life here, especially when it is Pitahaya. This strange looking fruit is a little intimidating at first, but once you are brave enough to cut in, you won't ever look back.... unless it is to see if there is more. The inside is full of little black seeds. You just scoop it out with a spoon and dive into heaven. It tastes like the sweetest kiwi you have ever eaten.... Seriously, pitahaya is reason enough to visit Ecuador. This has been a great week for us, we received plums, pitahaya and pears all in the same week- no need to go to the fruit market- plus we got to share with our neighbors!